Shemp Howard - "Fake Shemp"

"Fake Shemp"

Columbia had promised exhibitors eight Three Stooges comedies for 1956, but only four had been completed at the time of Shemp's death. To fulfill the contract, producer Jules White manufactured four more shorts by reusing old footage of Shemp and filming new connecting scenes with a double (longtime Stooge supporting actor Joe Palma), seen mostly from the back.

The re-edited films range from clever to blatantly patchy, and Stooge fans often dismiss them as second-rate. Rumpus in the Harem borrows from Malice in the Palace, Hot Stuff from Fuelin' Around, Commotion on the Ocean from Dunked in the Deep. The best (and most technically accomplished) is Scheming Schemers, combining new footage with recycled clips from three old Stooge shorts: A Plumbing We Will Go, Half-Wits Holiday and Vagabond Loafers.

When it was time to renew the Stooges' contract, Columbia hired comedian Joe Besser to replace Shemp. After 16 films, Columbia replaced Joe by (in a sense) bringing back Shemp: Columbia kept the series going into the 1960s by reissuing Shemp's Stooge shorts, so that Shemp Howard remained a popular movie star for more than a decade after his death.

Director Sam Raimi and his childhood friend actor Bruce Campbell refer to body doubles and stand-ins as "Shemps" or "Fake Shemps" in reference to the postmortem Stooges shorts.

In a 2000 TV-movie, Shemp was portrayed by John Kassir, who donned a floppy, straight-haired wig to portray the comic.